Arthur Madrid, co-founder and CEO of The Sandbox, a metaverse project, fell victim to a Twitter account hack On May 26. Madrid, in a post made after recovering his account, informed users of The Sandbox about the incident. The hacker had allegedly used the crypto CEO’s account to promote a fraudulent “airdrop” phishing scam.
Madrid cautioned users to avoid clicking on any suspicious links related to an airdrop or URLs that appear scam-like. Four hours before Madrid’s post, The Sandbox’s official Twitter account had also issued a warning, stating that a scammer had taken control of the account and was promoting a fake airdrop of SAND tokens through a phishing link.
The scam post screenshot shared by The Sandbox displayed an advertisement for a SAND token airdrop, urging users to check their eligibility and claim the tokens on a website with a different URL than the official one. The Sandbox team confirmed that they were actively working to take down the scam site and resolve the issue as soon as possible. As of 8:26 pm UTC, the alleged scam site had been taken down and displayed a 404 error.
Phishing attacks on the rise in the crypto industry
Phishing attacks have become increasingly common in the cryptocurrency community. On May 19, a scam service named “Inferno Drainer” was discovered on Telegram, recruiting website builders to create numerous phishing scam sites. It had reportedly stolen almost $6 million from users before being exposed.
According to a report by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, these types of attacks saw a 40% increase in 2022 compared to the previous year
Phishing attacks have been a persistent issue within the cryptocurrency industry, targeting individuals and companies alike. These attacks typically involve tricking users into revealing their sensitive information, such as login credentials or private keys, by impersonating legitimate platforms or services.
The incident involving Arthur Madrid and The Sandbox is a clear example of how attackers exploit social media platforms to deceive users. By compromising Madrid’s Twitter account, the attacker gained access to a large audience and used it to promote a fake airdrop scam. Airdrops, which involve distributing free tokens to eligible participants, is a common marketing tactic in the crypto space. Attackers take advantage of this popularity by creating fraudulent airdrop campaigns to lure unsuspecting users into providing their personal information or transferring funds.
